DO YOU KNOW HOW TO PRAY?

A man's daughter had asked the local minister to

come and pray with her father.

When the minister arrived, he found the man lying

in bed with his head propped up on two pillows.

An empty chair sat beside his bed.

The minister assumed the old fellow had been

informed of his visit..

"I guess you were expecting me," he said.

No, who are you?" said the father.

The minister told him his name and then remarked,

"I see the empty chair; I figured you knew I was

going to show up."

"Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man.

"Would you mind closing the door?"

Puzzled, the minister shut the door.

"I have never told anyone this,

not even my daughter," said the man.

"But all of my life I have never known how to pray.

At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer,

but it went right over my head."

"I abandoned any attempt at prayer,"

the old man continued, "until one day about

four years ago my best friend said to me,'

Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter of

having a conversation with Jesus.

Here is what I suggest." "Sit down in a chair;

place an empty chair in front of you,

and in faith see Jesus on the chair.

It's not spooky because he promised,

"I'll be with you always."

Then just speak to him in the same way

you're doing with me right now."

"So, I tried it and I've liked it so much

that I do it a couple of hours every day.

I'm careful though. If my daughter saw me

talking to an empty chair, she'd either

have a nervous breakdown or send me off

to the funny farm."

The minister was deeply moved by the story

and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey.

Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil,

and returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell

the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon.

"Did he die in peace?" he asked.

"Yes, when I left the house about two o' clock,

he called me over to his bedside,

told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek.

When I got back from the store an hour later,

I found him dead.

"But there was something strange about his death.

Apparently, just before Daddy died,

he leaned over and rested his head on the

chair beside the bed.

What do you make of that?"

The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said,

"I wish we could all go like that."

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